Fractured bones are often treated using fixation devices that reinforce the fractured bone and keep the fractured segments aligned during healing. The fixation devices may take a variety of forms, including casts for external fixation and bone plates for internal fixation. Bone plates are typically formed as rigid metal plates that are mounted on a fractured bone or bone segments to span or bridge the fracture. Typically, bones plate are held in place by screws or other fasteners attached to the bone on each side of the fracture through apertures in the bone plate.
Bone plates are considered the treatment of choice for many fractured bones, especially long bones, because they are compact, permitting an early return to motion. As illustrated in FIG. 1, in addition to screw holes (not shown) for affixing the plate to bone, bone plate 50 can be provided with through holes 57 and cutouts 52 that allow for the fixation to the bone plate of sutures attached to tubercules or other soft tissue. In this way, the bone plate can be used to tie down the tubercules or soft tissue. However, the holes 57 and cutouts 52 have sharp edges which increase the wear rate of the suture that is passed therethrough to tie down the soft tissue.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a bone plate with a suture fastener that does not have any sharp edges. A bone plate with smooth edges which provide increased fixation strength of fractured bone, and with suture loops attached to the bone plate which provide additional fixation of associated soft tissue to the fractured bone and reliable suture connections, is also needed. A method of bone-tissue fixation using a bone plate with a suture fastener that does not have any sharp edges is further needed.